Clan Vs Devils - 13 Nov 19 - League

august04

Well-Known Member
#81
Officiating is shambolic, every fan base in the league will agree, as does most coaches I would assume but they just can't be quite as vocal as fans. Of course it will frustrate players and will be the game charger some nights, but over the course of the season it will probably even itself out. It is not the main reason why we are losing games. We have to look at ourselves & sort out how we can get ourselves going. Like many I was over the moon with yesterday's signing. Can't fault the ownership & management for addressing a major concern with our defensive game. Really hope this will calm the nerves of some players & confidence is restored.
I agree with you, we all know that officiating in the EIHL is pathetic this season. They weren’t the reason we lost that game tonight though, as you allude to. I actually didn’t think they were that bad tonight. You’ll always get one or two calls that you don’t agree with but the key call was Dixon’s slashing penalty - and it was a penalty - which put them on the PP with 5 or 6 minutes to go. Compounded then by what I thought was a harsh call on Myers, which looked to be as a result of him losing his footing rather than anything else. Without that Myers call, they still had a man advantage though and their special teams was very good tonight, whereas ours wasn’t.
That game was very deflating after the excitement surrounding the new signing yesterday. I’ve criticised our defensive play all season, we just don’t look capable of defending properly (as a defensive unit or as a team) but I think our D corps will get a much needed boost in the next few weeks. I honestly can‘t fathom what’s happened to some of our forwards though. They look pale imitations of what we’ve seen in the past. I just don’t get it. Is it one year too many for one or two?
 
#82
No I wasn't trying to suggest that tonight's loss was down to the officials. They are equally poor for all teams & over the course of the season you will get some that go your way & some that won't, it is what it is. My focus is totally on our game & how we can get back on track . Like you August 04 ( sorry I still don't how to add someone's comment in my reply !) I'm scratching my head as to the form of some players , injuries, low confidence, who knows? Fingers crossed that the new guy can add a spark, looking forward to seeing him at the weekend. Be great to see Wally at the Viola too, I loved watching him play.
 

ASHIPP

Well-Known Member
#84
Think we need to adjust expectations now. On paper the Devils look like world beaters. But the reality at least at the moment is a team struggling with every visible aspect of their game... style, identity, confidence, chemistry, systems. Even struggling to get the basics right against average teams sometimes. Poor performances.

Thinking back to the season that Strachs was on the Team (it was Andrew Hotham's final season with the Devils)..... What did they do right that season? What did they do to make things work and get results that won them the League?

It's almost now as if they have strip everything back and start again with the basics playing a simple, effective game and working on partnerships with already proven chemistry, the guys who (should) know the style and systems and stop overcomplicating things.

Whilst injuries and lack of form will be playing their part, other teams also have these issues and are getting results.

Agree with the poster who mentioned the leadership. GOAT is exactly that (the best player on the Team) but he should be overall Club Captain and let someone else take the on-ice captaincy. Joey's line is misfiring...... partly because he is carrying the weight of other responsibilities.
 
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Gazr76

Active Member
#85
For those complaining at our lack of physIcality just look at what happened at the end of the second period. McMonagle lines up Roy for a perfect hipcheck. Roy sees him coming and at the last minute turns his back into it and feigns injury. It’s a perfectly good hit yet the referee falls for it and calls a penalty, which Clan score from.

I have so much sympathy for the players who must be pulling their hair out. We want to see checks like that yet the standard of officiating this season has been so poor they get penalised for it.
This.
A number of you are complaining that Cardiff are not physical enough. They start playing physically , as described above, and end up in the penalty box. You actually want them to continue to play physically and spend the entire night in the box? Yeah that'll work.
The officials in this country dont know their ass from their armpit.
This of course will not be addressed in anyway shape or form. Its very frustrating.
 
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Gough60

Active Member
#86
No I wasn't trying to suggest that tonight's loss was down to the officials. They are equally poor for all teams & over the course of the season you will get some that go your way & some that won't, it is what it is. My focus is totally on our game & how we can get back on track . Like you August 04 ( sorry I still don't how to add someone's comment in my reply !) I'm scratching my head as to the form of some players , injuries, low confidence, who knows? Fingers crossed that the new guy can add a spark, looking forward to seeing him at the weekend. Be great to see Wally at the Viola too, I loved watching him play.
I understood exactly what you meant re the officials at the moment. Big calls are going unpunished while small poxy calls are getting 2min. This is leading to frustration with players. These are calls for both teams as well.
I was shown a clip of Benti on his knees facing away from the clan goal receiving a check to the head with no call from the officials.
Someone WILL get badly hurt if calls like that are not made
 
#88
This.
A number of you are complaining that Cardiff are not physical enough. They start playing physically , as described above, and end up in the penalty box. You actually want them to continue to play physically and spend the entire night in the box? Yeah that'll work.
The officials in this country dont know their ass from their armpit.
This of course will not be addressed in anyway shape or form. Its very frustrating.
That's not true though is it? We've been picking up a lot of penalties all season, especially away, but most of the are for hooking, slashing, tripping etc, we haven't just started getting penalties in the last week due to upping the physicality (for one game)
 

osh

Well-Known Member
#89
With regard to comments about how the game is officiated. Many games I have attended this season have been poorly officiated, however, I do not see that officials are favouring our opposition, its simply the standard they are at and we have to accept it. There are times when I have actually thought we have got away with plenty of penalty calls so I don’t see it as any sort of favouritism. Let’s be honest here, we are grasping at straws when blaming results on poor refereeing.
Many who complain about the officials deliberately avoid mentioning what most posters are saying i.e we are simply playing well below our capabilities and many players do not seem to be putting in the effort expected of them. Our overall D is poor and our forwards are over complicating moves and lack confidence in front of net.
Personally, I’d like Lord to copy and paste the comments made here about last nights game and after the next training session hand each player a copy to see how they react.
 

Rob Batch

Well-Known Member
#90
We never seem to have a good game when those tv cameras are there. Looking at the league table we are only a couple of points from being top if you adjust for games in hand. 13 games played with 41 still to come, plus we've got a big nhl stay at home D man to give us a boost ! No worries.
 

Gisland

Active Member
#91
There is time yet. The new addition could just be the spark. Couple of hits to settle into his role and the rest falls into place. Give the team a little bit of confidence at the back
Only concern. his highlight reel shows a lot of good, hard defensive plays. Will the current referring system allow him to play that role? As with all teams in this league, at some stage calls go against you. Teams and players need to build this into their playing mentality. I
 

kristian

Well-Known Member
#92
We just don't seem to be on the same page so far. One pass to many maybe . Also no puck luck. We need a goal from someone's backside to change are luck in front of goal. How many chances did we have last night that just didn't fall right for us.
 

Gazr76

Active Member
#93
That's not true though is it? We've been picking up a lot of penalties all season, especially away, but most of the are for hooking, slashing, tripping etc, we haven't just started getting penalties in the last week due to upping the physicality (for one game)
I never said that. I am not refuting that. Yes there have been penalties for hooking, slashing, tripping etc.
What I am stating, in this example, is that the team played physically and our player performed a legal check. The then referee called a penalty for it. This has happened more than once and there is a pattern developing here.
Thus the Lordo (rightfully) has to instruct his team to play less physically. This is because there is a danger of further penalties being called if the team continues to play physical hockey.
Yet a number of people here are constantly calling out the team for not playing a physical enough brand of hockey.
 

hip check

Well-Known Member
#94
Are we being a little disrespectful to Clan? I've seen them play us twice this season and I believe on both occasions they were the better side.
I feel we can perform better than we did last night but Clan will always give us a close game this season, we have many talented players who to be honest are playing below what we expect from them, are we expecting too much from them? on top form would we have won last night or at Fife for example?
Every team this season has quality in their ranks, maybe not in the quantity we consider our Devil's to have but nevertheless they have it.
Things will improve with our performances no doubt about that but are we nailed on to be top two/three?
Enjoy the games, most on here think we're under performing so things realistically should get better and when we regain our mojo these games will probably be a distant memory.
 

Wannabe2

Well-Known Member
#95
It’s obviously a balance, what balance I don’t know, but we beat Steelers playing physical hockey, we then lost to Flames at theirs as a lot of teams will, playing physical hockey, playing physical hockey to me isn’t the problem, the problem is we don’t score enough, and we conceed too many.We are the only team in the top 5 who has conceeded more goals than what we have scored, and that’s not a healthy stat. Everyone well most like to see a hard hitting game, even our illustrious owner admits to that, winning is without a doubt a priority, people are judged on that, but entertaining is also very high on a Fans agenda. Let’s hope when our new Guy takes to the ice we will witness both.
 

Earnie

Well-Known Member
#96
I don't think we played badly last night other than pp and the pk not working !!
Did the refs influence the game- of course they did but I'm not going to blame them. There were calls that were a bit soft and there were calls missed on both sides. Goal mouth scrambles just didn't go our way. The lucky bounces did not go our way. I do not lay the blame on our defence alone. It is a team effort and a few top end forwards are not producing .
Give credit to their goalie, he had a very good night.
We were on our way back when we got landed with the 5 on 3 a few minutes from the end of the game.
With those two referees , had we been more physical we would have had more penalties. 6-3 scoreline does not reflect the nature of the game . Two e n g -- what a bummer!!
(as a side note let us not forget some of the team could be playing with an injury which is not going to get disclosed)
 

august04

Well-Known Member
#99
I never said that. I am not refuting that. Yes there have been penalties for hooking, slashing, tripping etc.
What I am stating, in this example, is that the team played physically and our player performed a legal check. The then referee called a penalty for it. This has happened more than once and there is a pattern developing here.
Thus the Lordo (rightfully) has to instruct his team to play less physically. This is because there is a danger of further penalties being called if the team continues to play physical hockey.
Yet a number of people here are constantly calling out the team for not playing a physical enough brand of hockey.
We didn’t play a physical game last night, end of - so let’s not blame excessive physical play on the loss. One or two questionable calls, but that’s all it was and you get that every game at every level. It’s too easy to blame the officiating. We should be looking at ourselves and only that. What’s more concerning for me is that there doesn’t seem to be desire to bust a gut to get something going, or the passion from anyone to do something to lift the team or the crowd. There’s just nothing there.
 
Now MK & Caps have gone there's no easy game in the EIHL, everyone is beating everyone. If you play poorly there's a good chance you'll lose. Last night we played poorly and got what we deserved.

Fitzy done a great job with the Clan. He's recruited well in the summer and the teams buying into his methods. I always thought he'd have a bit of Goon Squad like Manchester but he's proving me wrong. Fox has signed a multi year deal with Sheffield but if things go sour there then I can see Fitzy returning to the tangerines.

Hopefully Morrisonn will steady the ship and we can build from the back. Goals are becoming an issues but Riley, Martin & Linglet are too good not to rediscover their scoring touch.
 
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